Spansion Inc., the bankrupt maker of mobile phone memory chips, denied a report Wednesday that its Japanese unit is close to selling a chip production line.
Spansion Japan Ltd. plans to sell a chip making facility completed in 2007 with investment of over ¥100 billion, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier Wednesday, citing an unidentified executive at the unit. The 300-mm wafer facility at a plant in Fukushima Prefecture is now worth ¥20 billion, the report said, citing the executive.
"We are weighing all possible options to help advance reorganization, but no concrete plans have been made to sell the facilities," said Kosuke Hirako, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Spansion's Japanese unit.
Spansion, which hasn't reported a profit since its spinoff from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in 2005, filed for bankruptcy in March, a month after its Japanese unit sought protection under the Corporate Reorganization Law. Spansion Japan has since halved its workforce to 698 employees as of Sept. 30.
The company's 300-mm line, now idle, makes NOR flash, once the most common type of memory chip for phones.